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Rhianna Pratchett talks Heavenly Sword, Sony, and Andy Serkis

Rhianna Pratchett talks about writing one of the PlayStation 3's premiere …

When voice acting goes tear-inducingly wrong

AT: When we talked to Susan O'Connor, she didn't like talking about what could happen once her words hit the mouths of voice actors in some instances. Do you get nervous before seeing a final game to see how the developers took your script and translated it into cutscenes and dialog? It must have been easier knowing someone like Andy Serkis was involved with bringing your words to life.

An epic story helps set Heavenly Sword apart from the pack

RP: I've worked on a lot of titles, so I'm only too aware of how wrong—how tear-inducingly wrong things can go at the voice recording stage. Been there, heard that, cried myself to sleep.

Personally, I've found that getting involved in the VO directing whenever possible can help a lot, and not just for my control-freak sensibilities. Obviously it allows me to help steer things and offer advice about what I believe to be the right direction for a story or character, just as a movie writer/director would do. But, as I think I mentioned to you before, it's also incredibly beneficial to have someone there that knows the entire script line for line.

However, it's not always possible, and sometimes you really can't get all Charlton Heston "from my cold, dead hands" about it. You've just got to let your baby go. Wave it off with a snotty hankie and a tear in your eye, and just hope it doesn't come back upside down and on fire.

Of course, it's a lot easier when you know you're sending your baby off into the hands of folks like Andy Serkis and WETA. Andy had been involved in the development of Heavenly Sword for a long time, and he was fantastically enthusiastic about the project. I also met with some of the other actors beforehand when we had a full script read-through pre-WETA, and I got a chance to talk to them about their characters and feel confident that they would do a good job, which clearly they did! So, yes, the hanky was definitely drier!

Let's talk about Nariko and Kai for a moment. Nariko is really defined by her relationships: with her father, Kai, her clan, and even who she believes she is. Kai is much odder, and she's a very funny character, but at the same time there is this core of loyalty and bravery in her. It seemed like these characters were more complex than what we usually get in action games, and it was a very welcome change from the norm. Do you find that lately, developers are more willing to put a better story with more compelling characters in action titles? Do you think a strong story and characters can help action games stand out from the crowd?

The game focuses on Nariko's journey and obviously that is a mental, almost spiritual one, as well as a physical journey. Nariko has had to live her whole life under a curse, under constant suspicion from much of her Clan that, by the time we start the game, has manifested into downright hatred. She has to find a way to cope with this as well as her duties as a stoic, fearless warrior. It's unsurprising that this gives her very little time to be a human being.

Nariko is much more conflicted than your average action hero

A constant question for me when helping create Nariko's character was "What happens when the mask slips"—what happens when you listen to all those little voices—and not only listen to them, but give them body and form, and let them take you over.

Nariko seems very single-minded on one level, but inside there's a lot of churning emotions going on. When she makes the decision to wield the Heavenly Sword, she knows she is sacrificing her life, but what she doesn't know—and what she discovers through the course of the game—is that what kills her actually allows her to live more completely than she has ever done before.

Gamers seem to have warmed to Kai a great deal, which I'm very glad about. Writing younger characters is always hard, even more so when they are, let's say, "special." They're a fine line between cute craziness and just plain annoying. She's a funny little creature, and Lydia Baksh does a great job with her. Kai's relationship with Nariko is quite central to the story as well. Kai doesn't care what the Clan thinks of Nariko—she simply loves her without question. In turn, Nariko would do anything for Kai—and does.

I do think that a strong story and especially strong characters help action-adventures a great deal. I love developing characters... I even love the evil ones (actually I especially love the evil ones). I don't think there are enough video game stars—even well-known ones—that are really fully rounded characters. Lara Croft started out as nothing more that a pretty avatar for the first couple of games, and I'm not really sure she's ever been able to better herself. True, there was more of a concerted effort in Legend, but that was seven titles in, so rather late in the day!